June 12, 2024 • 33 mins
Ronna-Renee joins Mike Howard to discuss Launchpoint Leadership's beginnings in Tennessee, hoe she discovered her leadership style, and more.
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(00:18):
Well, welcome back to CEOs youShould Know. I'm your host, Mike
Howard, Chief Operating Officer of theWheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. We are
pleased to present CEOs you Should Knowto the Ohio Valley Market for our good
friends at iHeartRadio, brought to youby our other good friends at the Banks
of West Banco. They've been agood sponsor with us for many things,
(00:38):
and throughout this whole year we'll sponsorour CEOs you Should Know podcast along with
us. So we are excited tobe in studio once again today with CEO
and President Rona and a jaction oflaunch Point Leadership Runner and a welcome thanks
Mike, happy to be here.Yeah, I think I almost messed up
(00:59):
launch Point Leadership too many l's therefor me after it is at well is
a bit of alliteration, and Iadd group to the end of it because
I do partner with people all aroundthe East Coast launch Point Leadership Group.
Well that's good. Yeah, becausethis isn't just a Wheeling business. It
didn't start in Wheeling, did it, It did not it? Yeah,
give us the origination. It wasborn in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We did
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visit there our founder emeritus, MargeFleming, and I purchased the business from
her several years ago when I wasmoving so much. You know, I
have moved quite a bit, youhave, growing up and with my husband's
career, and so I purchased thebusiness so it could always go with me,
and I was able to work inlots of different markets and different size
(01:46):
cities. And I'm really happy tobe here and Wheeling. I think this
is a sweet spot. I'm reallyenjoying it. And we were pleased for
our leadership Wheeling twenty twenty four topartner with you as our I guess content
coordinator facilitator. There was a lotof time idols and hats you were wearing.
There were a lot of hats.But it was really fun and I
think we gave new birth to aprogram that had been existing for a long
(02:07):
time, and it was really greatto see the energy around it. And
even here as I'm in the communitynow, hear people talking about the excitement
for next year's cohort. So Ithink we're onto something good here. I
think we are. It's a greatpartnership. So before we dive further into
launch Point Leadership Group, let's talkabout where you're from, born, grew
(02:28):
up, all that good stuff,because again, not in Wheeling, right,
not in Wheeling. I don't knowif you can detect an accent.
Some people say I have a Southernaccent. Some people say I don't.
When I was a child, Ihad a very bad Southern accent. In
fact, I would say, Mama, look at that. Jaet and I
made a jet, a two syllablewar. And that was in South Florida
(02:50):
or central Florida really, because mydad was with NASA and I was born
at the Cape and I started movingas a child, So I've moved a
lot of times. My dad waswith IBM. When we jokingly said it
stood for I've been moved. Andthen I had my own IBM career for
about fifteen years and moved quite abit all through that, and then throughout
(03:12):
my twenty five plus year marriage toJeff, we've moved a lot. We
were adding up the other night thenumber of houses we've lived in, and
I think we lost count at likethirteen. Oh my gosh, that's just
crazy. So where were you whenyou and Jeff met in Atlanta? In
Atlanta? Okay, did you getmarried there? No? We did not.
We had moved to Connecticut, ok. And we ended up we were
(03:35):
kind of like kids without a home. So we got married in Charlotte,
North Carolina, where my dad wasliving at the time, and I thought,
he's paying for it, we'll getmarried there, and so that was
great. But we met in Atlantaand we both worked for IBM Global Finance.
Okay, excellent worked the same place. So wow, that's pretty cool.
All right, married and Charlotte movedto Connecticut. What happened after Connecticut?
(03:55):
After Connecticut we moved just in yourmemory, I had to think about
it. We lived in New Yorkat in Connecticut, worked at IBM corporate
headquarters at nine to eleven, andthat event precipitated a conversation that we had
to make a lifestyle change. Iwas coming back off matney leave. Our
son was only a few months old. He was born in April of September
(04:18):
that same year, and so myjob at the time was one hundred percent
international travel, and I just didn'twant to do it anymore. I had
a baby, and I'm like,you know, my whole view on work
was changing, and so I resignedfrom that position and we moved to Jeff's
hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, andwe picked that place because I did want
(04:41):
to continue working and have a career, but I needed help. And so
his family was there and they werewilling to help us, and that was
great. So we moved to Chattanoogaand lived there the longest I've ever lived
anywhere in my life. We livedthere for about sixteen years, and that
was really really terrific. That isa long time time with all those moves
you had. Yeah, So it'sfunny, right because that was a long
(05:03):
tenure. And so that tells youhow many times we've moved quickly in between,
you know, I mean my housein Memphis and then my house in
Naples, Florida. The furniture wasmoved on the same day to the day,
September twenty seventh, in twenty nineteen. September twenty seventh and twenty twenty.
(05:23):
Wow, So Chattanooga to Naples,Florida. Okay, so a little
more south again, right back toFlorida. I think that was the third
time I had moved in and outof the state of Florida as a native
Florida and I love Florida, andI thought we'd be there for a while.
You know. Jeff was the regionalpresident for a First Horizon Bank at
the time, you know, workingall across the state of Florida. And
(05:46):
my parents were my dad and hiswife. My mom died when I was
twenty three, so my dad andhis wife, but I say my parents.
They were living in clear Water,so I was very excited that I
was close to them again. Iwas reconnecting with college friends. I went
to University of Florida, so Iwas happy to see a lot of my
sorority sisters. And we were onlythere for a year, and then we
went to Memphis, then to Memphis. Okay, so one end of Tennessee
(06:09):
to the other via Naples, that'sright. And we were in Memphis for
about two years, and then Jeffleft for Sarrizon and took the West Banco
role. So we moved to Wheeling. And that's where you got to Wheeling
finally after all those years, afterall that, we have two children,
correct, I do, yeah,son and a daughter. Yes, our
son is out of college and helives in Chattanooga and works for bank.
(06:30):
And our daughter just graduated high school. Very good, all right, So
I think we got the moves andthe family and all that caught up.
How did the whole launch Point Leadershipgroup you mentioned another person founding you took
over. How what was the timelineon that. Well, I think March
had the company for probably twenty hplus years. I mean, it was
(06:50):
quite quite successful in Chattanooga, andshe and I met, you know,
I don't really know how we met. We both were talking about this day.
You know how you just are drawnto people, and that's what happened.
We met. It was an instantconnection, and she kind of brought
me in under her wing. AndI'd had an executive coach when I was
(07:13):
at UNIM who told me that Iwas a natural coach and if ever I
thought about doing that, you know, she would help me. And Marge
was saying the same thing to meand saying, this is really an opportunity,
and she wanted to extend her businessa little bit. And then I
stepped in and I would say Iwanted to make it a little more contemporary
in terms of how we went tomarket, tools, techniques and all of
(07:35):
that, and so it was.It's been around for a while. Okay,
so it sounds like a couple thingsmay have shaped you early on in
your career. If someone telling youthat they think you're kind of a natural
at the coaching thing, was thereanything else, any other position or somewhat
that kind of held you had youthinking that, oh, yeah, I
can really help people in leadership trainingor coaching. I think that there was
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always you know they say sometimes yourcareer it's either a calling or it's a
job, but you know, tryingto figure out what is that yearning that's
inside of you that needs to getout. And I always have been drawn
to helping other people identify their needsand help them realize their own life.
And I applied that to myself.You know, when I left the corporate
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world, I thought, what isthe life I want to create or the
life I want to live? Andhow do I go create that? And
I was very intentional about it.I took some time as a nonprofit CEO,
I began cultivating some clients in thecorporate world, and I went and
got a lot of training on coachingand different modalities, and so, you
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know, I was very intentional aboutdoing that. So I wouldn't say that
there was just one incident. Therewas just a natural way that I like
to see people. I'm a happyperson. I want other people to be
happy, and so if I seeyou not being happy, I'm like,
oh, I wonder how I canhelp shape and God and do that.
So it's sort of where I landed. Well before we started the program,
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we were talking about title Enroll CEOpresident and chief coc and bottle washer.
I think, so what we said, do you have any other employees or
is it just you right now?I'm the only employee. I have several
other contractors. I have coaches andfacilitators that really in all the markets I've
lived in that I kind of stayconnected with, and so we are able
to serve clients across the Eastern Seaboard. And yeah, it's a nice network
(09:26):
of people that I have worked withand for and I really am happy to
have that. So it was awhile back. I can't remember exactly when
I have to look on the websiteand check the date. When we did
interview Jeff for CEOs you should know. And it was interesting when I asked
him about leadership influences in his life. I believe he said you were number
one. Oh, good, gladto hear that. You know, It's
(09:48):
funny we joke. Jeff is aI'm a good bit older than Jeff,
and a lot of people don't realizethat, and they don't realize that when
we met, I was his boss, and so he was a temporary employee.
I hired him full time, andthen I promoted him to another department.
And then a few years after that, even is when we started dating.
So I had known him. It'sa great story, or probably four
(10:09):
or five years before we started dating. And yeah, so a lot of
people say, well, you're stillhis boss, just in a different way.
Well, and so then that alwaysleads us to the question of leadership
style. How would you describe Becauseit's interesting your professionist leadership training for leadership,
so you need to I guess peopleneed to think through not only their
(10:30):
leadership style, but how can theycoach that or teach that, especially if
that other person or that client you'reworking with doesn't have that exact same bent.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat your style and how you figure
that out with your clients. Well, I did a lot of assessments.
I've done I've been assessed up oneside and down the other as a part
of a lot of professional development inCorporate America. So I've had Myers Briggs,
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I've had the Herman Brain Dominance Indicator. I was sent to an organizational
design company or organizational psychologist company,I guess for about three days of immersive
assessment where I had a preloaded inboxand they tested how quickly did I respond
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to the issues and if a newissue came in, how did I answer
it? And I had to coachan employee on a video call, but
of course the employee was an organizationalpsychologist, and then I had to take
a whole battery of you know,cognitive exam So this was over the course
of a few days. Yeah,no pressure. Yeah, that was really
an intense one. But I've hada lot of different assessments and each one
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of them have sort of come backwith a little bit of the same language,
but they might have said it differently. They have said things like,
you're kind of unique to the profile, and I was always like, unique
to your database or unique to mycompany, because that could be trouble,
you know, if you're too uniqueto And they answer was I was kind
(12:00):
of both, you know. Andso through this series of assessments, I
began to really learn my style andhonestly, in today's world, I would
probably be diagnosed as add my brain. I say all the time, I
have popcorn brain like fires off allthe time. I have all these ideas.
I would qualify for that one atleast from the idea of perspective.
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Yeah, a lot of ideas,but it's hard for me to sit and
shape and implement them. I loveto create things and then work with somebody
else to implement them, and that'sbeen a learning process for me. You
know, there was a time earlierin my career when I thought I could
do it all and I probably fellshort a few times. And I think,
you know, learning that learning whatyou're good at, and more importantly,
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learning what you're not good at oryou need some support, helped influence
my leadership style. So my leadershipstyle is one of curiosity about myself and
my employees. I love a strengthbased approach because I really like to see
what people are naturally good at andhow can we align the work to give
them more of that and move awaythe things that they're not good at.
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Because the thing that I'm not goodat, somebody else may really excel in.
And I learned that through my strengthbased certification with that work, and
I really like that. I likethat approach. How have you seen these
assessments change over the decades that you'vebeen working in the work environment or in
doing this leadership thing. I mean, I think back to some of the
things they had us do in Hyatthotels in the eighties and nineties and other
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assessments and things, and where hasit gone today? I think a lot
of them are still around, justin a digital format, right. You
know, Myers Briggs is tried andtrue, disc tried and true. You
know, the enneagram is newer that'scome out in the last you know,
five ten years, or at leastit's become more popular in the last five
or ten years. But there area lot of assessments. I think they're
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still around. I think different practitionersfind the one that they like that resonates
most with them. But I think, you know, in a coaching world,
you have to be familiar with lotsof different ones because it has to
be based on what your client needsare. You know, when I was
managing an IT organization, there wasone that was we were considering for our
(14:13):
IT organization, but it was muchmore I'm going to say touchy feely,
Well, that's not going to workso well with an IT organization, so
they want fact data logics. Sowe ended up going with the Herman Brain
Dominance Indicator and that was a reallygood So you have to know a lot
about different assessments in order to recommendthe right one for the client profile,
as I say in my sales train, so you can diagnose the problem and
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give them the right solution exactly exactly. So the launch Point Leadership group,
how could someone get in touch withyou? The easiest way is to call
me or text if you don't liketo be on the phone, which you
know is a new thing and thisgeneration. Right, Yeah, So my
number is area code four two threenine nine four zero zero zero seven,
(14:56):
or you can email at R Jacksonat Launchpoint Leadership dot com. There you
go, all right, So let'spretend someone here's this podcast, they're like
I need to talk to her,and they call you up or send you
an email. What typically is thefirst step? How can I help you?
I like to focus on what theyneed, right, and of course
(15:18):
I tell them a little bit aboutwhat I do in different ways that I
can help them solve whatever the gapis they're reaching out because they have some
sort of a need, and sometimesit's not even articulated. I think a
lot of people, or a lotof teams, managers and teams, I
say this frequently. They don't knowthat they had an expectation until it wasn't
met, and then they realize,oh, I did have an expectation,
(15:41):
but maybe I haven't articulated it,so it's you know, usually the first
step we might do a little workshopor a discovery session. I might need
to interview a couple people that arealso principles or partners in the team,
because maybe one person's perception of whatthe gap is is different than somebody else's,
so I like to get a robustview, and then I make a
(16:03):
recommendation, whether that is coaching forsome or all of the team, or
whether it's a workshop, or whetherit is facilitation of a group dynamic,
you know, and some exercises thatcould be done. There lots of different
things. It really just depends onwhat the client needs. Do you have
some favorite I guess the new wordis vertical. I always called them industries
or categories of businesses that you reallylove to get in deep with and help
(16:29):
I don't have a favorite. ActuallyI don't. I've done a lot of
work in nonprofits, but I've donea lot in corporates too, and I
think nonprofits it tends to be thechallenge is between the executive director or CEO,
whatever the title is, and theboard. That seems to be the
issue. Right, So it's alot of facilitation, board dynamics, interviews,
that kind of thing. In thefor profit corporate world, it's team
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communications, it's managing expectations, it'sHoward the manager coaching and developing their teams,
you know. So I can workwith people to help that, because
not all managers are great leaders,and not all leaders are managers. Leadership
is at all levels, and Ilove to bring out, depending on who
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I'm talking with, I always throwthe term out of micromanaging, because I
am a self professed hater of micromanagers. How does that come into maybe how
your training works. If you getinto a company and you're kind of like,
you see, oh, yeah,we've got a micro manager there.
We've got to try to help.Do you run into that a lot?
How do you deal with that?I do run into it, and I
really try and coach managers to managethe outcome and manage the work, not
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manage the time, especially in today'sworld where you know, the younger generations
they kind of want to work fromanywhere whenever it suits them, and you
know, the brick and mortar likecoming to work at nine to five.
I was even interviewing somebody right outof college one time for a job at
a very stayed company and she said, well, what time you have to
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be here? And I said,well, you know, we have flex
hours in the morning and in theafternoon, but in general, to support
our customers, we expect people tobe here from nine to three. Those
are our core hours. But youcan come in earlier, leave early if
you need to. And she said, that's like being in jail. And
I thought, well, maybe brickand mortar work isn't for you. But
you know what, I have realizedthis newer, younger generation, they are
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looking for that work life integration ina way that baby boomers didn't. Baby
Boomers were willing to sacrifice their personallife for their career, and to their
credit, the younger generation aren't.And I think that's wonderful, but it
does change how managers have to workbecause managers need to be focused on the
outcome and the work, not didsomebody clock in or did somebody are they
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on vacation? Because we all havethese devices in our pockets and we're all
connected all the time. And soreally, if you can help managers elevate
their presence and learn how to managein a digital environment and look at outcomes,
I think everybody wins that way.Yeah, the outcome is the thing,
the achievement. But how you getthere can be either unfortunately still a
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lot of micro managers out there,or the coach leader that helps do whatever
you can to make the job easierfor whether it's sales or other managers or
whatnot, to get to that desiredoutcome. No matter the time, the
commitment or whatnot. It is theoutcome, right, it's the outcome.
It's always about the outcome. Micromanagingis really a fear based approach, and
so you have to get to thebottom of that. What are they afraid
of? What do they have sucha need to control for? You know,
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because that's a control mechanism. Sowhy is that? And so when
you can get to the root ofthe why, then you can help unlock
the manager or leader's potential and yourteam will be much more responsive because you've
you've unlocked the why. Yeah.One of my favorite leadership coaches trainers is
Mark Miller, and he's always talkingabout two things you've got to be on
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top of is results and relationships.And typically most people gravitate to one or
the other, and they've got towork on that balance of both and how
do you get them both to worktogether? Results and relationships? Yeah,
I totally agree. I think everyindustry you asked if I had a favorite,
no, because every industry is arelationship business. Yeah, truly is.
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It's interesting how though the whole digitalworld and Zoom and other things have
changed how we do relationships. Youknow, salespeople are like, why go
driving the car all day? Ican now do five meetings in a row
at Zoom. Well, some ofthose are good, but sometimes you still
want to be in the environment ofyour potential client, seeing them face to
face, getting a better handle onnonverbal communication, but also then seeing their
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facilities and meeting a lot of peopleat one time. I think it's a
balancing act to try to figure outwhat's best and for which client. The
key to life balance balance absolutely allright, So one of my favorite questions
to ask on the CEOs you shouldknow program is influences in your life,
Mentors, professors, family members.Well, who was that for Ronna Renee?
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Without a doubt, one hundred percentmy dad? Okay, I mean
I am a daddy's girl, buthe was an executive at IBM and shaped
me as an adult as a leader. You know, I mentioned my mom
died when I was twenty three.My dad and I are super close.
He's still living, God love him. He'll be ninety in November. Oh
my gosh. And he is he'sjust always been an encourager, you know,
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he's he I say, yeah,I say, he loved me enough
to let me fail. He didn'tcome in and swoop in and save me.
He's let me have to, youknow, deal with some outcomes.
And he's been great. And youknow, all through my whole life,
a really just solid encourager and supporterand believer. And he believed in me
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enough until I believed it myself.And I just love that and it has
definitely influenced how I work, notonly how I parent, but how I
work with other people. As Isay, have you ever caught yourself sitting
in a counseling or coaching situation andkind of stay in the back of your
mind. Boy, that's exactly whatmy dad would have said. Yeah,
you know, I haven't thought ofit like that, but I do.
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I do. Hear echoes of himin my brain quite a bit. Well
that's great. And then from aschooling perspective, were there any professors,
any teachers, any folks even clubs, organizations, or fellow students that might
have you might look back and go, you know, I'm glad I had
that person or met that person.Well, you know, I'm really lucky.
I have a group of sorority sisters. I was Alpha Amicron Pie University
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of Florida and we're still friends todayand we still get together once a year.
There's you know, fourteen of us, give or take at any time,
and we comment quite a bit onhow we're kind of a group of
really strong women. You know.One of them was panelanic president. We
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hosted the SEPC conference at Florida.I was art director. We all did,
and it's an amazing career. Oneis a judge, one as a
Republican strategist. You know, there'slawyers. It's just amazing to me that
these women that we met when wewere eighteen nineteen years old, but now
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here we are sixty and we're stillfriends and we still get together and we
I would say that group has influencedme a lot, because when I come
away from those weekends and we're together, it's always very restorative. I mean,
people who've known you through all yourlife and then and they've seen the
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good, the bad, and theugly. And we do say all the
time, thank God that there werenot cell phones and recordings the way that
there are nowadays. Right, Butthat group has sustained me quite a bit,
and we still work together. Thereare several of them that are kind
of in my network. You know. If I need a strength based coach,
I'm going to call on Juniper Coachingout of Baltimore. If I need
to facilitate something, I'm gonna callRenee dabs Well down in Florida. So
(24:00):
it's really great that we have abig network. Or if you need sales
training, I'm going to call Gretchenfrom Braveheart Sales in Columbus, Ohio.
And we're all over the place,and I just love that that we are
a network of women supporting women.That's awesome, very good. Well,
and you mentioned something I'm not sureI've brought this up with many of my
interviewees on CEOs you should know,but you mentioned art director. And I've
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seen with when we were working withyou for Leadership Wheeling, you were doing
some of the design stuff. AndI'm sitting there thinking she even does that
too. But one of the thingsI know you and I are both big
cheerleaders about is the Wheeling Symphony.Talk to us a little bit about your
involvement there, but also just yourlove for arts, music, that type
of thing. My grandmother was amusic educator, so I do love music.
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I love to have it around,all different types. And so my
involvement with this symphony when I movedhere to Wheeling was really is a way
of connecting and meeting people, becauseyou know, everybody said, oh,
join the auxiliary, you'll meet lotsof people. So I did, and
I have. I've met, I'vemade a lot of friends and it's been
lovely. And you know, throughWest Banco's sponsorship and my husband and I
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both have committed to the symphony andwe're so fortunate that we have a symphony
of this caliber and a town thesize of Wheeling, and we need to
do everything we can to support itfinancially and attending the concerts because it is
just a gem. And people thinksymphony is like kind of boring, and
I would say, gosh, it'sanything, but these concerts are phenomenal.
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And the music director, John Devlinis a genuine genius. I mean,
he is brilliant at bringing contemporary Americancomposers to life. And so you're learning
about music and you're enjoying it.And so I have really enjoyed the symphony.
But I love art. I meanI paint and I draw and as
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a hobby, not you know,for anything else, but I like it.
It's very soothing to me to bein an arts world. Whenever i'm
I'm kind of stressed out, I'mlike, okay, I need to go
into the arts cime the exactly sideway as you mentioned about John. I
mean, I can just go thereand just watch him for the evening and
just enjoy the show that he individuallyputs on. Oh it's phenomenal, isn't
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it. And the reason I loveI've always loved Symphony on Ice, but
now to have him there, it'sprobably the one concert where he speaks the
most, narrating through the songs andthe performers and the conductors and everything,
and I just love to hear himtalk. So I'm glad you got involved
in that. I keep telling allthe people here, if we're bringing people
into town, developers, whatever itis, to build everything around a symphony
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weekend, because if people come hereand see that, then maybe hit ogleby
Wheeling parks, see the quality oflife and the parks and rex that we
have in the education system, wegot a good chance of hooking them in.
I could not agree more. Ithink that there are a lot of
little hidden gems in this area,and certainly our symphony and our park system
are two of them. Well,back to experiences real quick, and then
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I'll have one more question for you, But is there a I always call
it the toughest lesson learned that shapedyou. Was there something and some people
have said, boy, I couldgo through a whole list of them,
but something that you're like, obviouslyat that time may not have been fun,
but it was certainly a learning lesson. And you're glad you went.
You can look back and go I'mglad I went through it. I hope
I never have to again. Ido have some I'll tell a story as
(27:21):
a way of setting this all up. Love stories. When I was pregnant
with our son working in New Yorkat IBM corporate headquarters, I have left
to go to a doctor's appointment andmy boss called me and he said,
hey, don't come back to theoffice after your appointment today. And I
thought, oh, that's so nice, thank you, okay, and he
said, oh, no, I'mnot calling to tell you. I'm not
(27:42):
doing that out of niceness. I'mdoing it because one of your employees came
into my office and said, Iunderstand why people bring guns to work and
shoot people. And I was likewhat, And so he went on to
tell me exactly this whole story abouthow this woman that I had hired came
(28:02):
in and was telling him all ofthis stuff that she perceived I had done.
She thought I had hired her forone job when I had promised her
another one, and she was goingon and on. So, of course,
you know, there was a lotof things that were involved IBM security,
and she'd have a psych evaluation.All the stuff happened. But the
lesson that I learned through It allwas on how good my documentation is,
(28:26):
because I had, in fact anote that I had sent to her throughout
the interview process, and I said, to be fair, I need to
let you know I have hired aperson for the position that we initially discussed,
and I had this other position andhere's what it is, and you
know, if you would like todiscuss that position, I am open.
(28:48):
And so then I that was theopening line. So my boss at the
time called it the smoking gun,and he was like, oh, thank
god, you kept good documentation.And so that was pretty early in my
career and throughout that you know,that lesson of keep good documentation has worked
very very well for me, evenwhen I was a nonprofit executive and I
(29:12):
had to separate one of our employeesand she went to took us to court,
took the organization court trying to getunemployment, and so we had to
go to mediation, and I hadall of my documentation where I had her
on a performance improvement plan. Iteven had a statement down at the bottom
(29:32):
that said, if you fail toadhere to these standards over the next ninety
days, you will be terminated.And I had her sign it. So
I was able to show, youknow, the mediator all of this.
I had all of the documentation,and so of course we won, and
they said, you're probably the onlyperson in the history of the state of
Tennessee that has won an unemployment claim. But I am a I'm kind of
(29:53):
scattered and messy about a lot ofstuff, but I am really careful about
documentation, and so I had tolearn that early. It was not an
easy lesson, but I'm really gladthat I have have always had good documentary.
I've been through one of those aswell, where the one of the
companies I was with for many yearsreally stressed that and I think we had
a situation where it wasn't so greatand we learned from it, and then
(30:15):
we started on and another situation popsup, and the people will higher up
in the HR or whatever said,you did wonderful documentation on this, that's
why this is not going to bean issue. And I was like,
Okay, so I think I feelwhere you are on that how important that
is. It's not something you wantto do or that you have to rely
on. But I'm glad I learnedhow, and I have a kind of
a I just have a good littleroutine. And so even things like that
(30:37):
are sometimes things that clients need helpwith, right, Like how do you
manage, you know, to setthose files up, how did you track
and manage employee one on ones?How do you have an effective one on
one who owns that relationship? Thosetypes of things are all things that I
find sometimes leaders need some support well, and you can help with that,
and I can help with that's Imean, that's great to know. I
don't think a lot of people thinkof coaches and leadership groups people doing those
(31:02):
type of things for them, butI think there's a lot of need for
that. I think there's a lotof need too, And I think it's
sort of I would say, min, I'm not strictly a coach and I'm
not strictly a mentor. I likethat blended approach and that all of my
you know, experiences through both corporateand nonprofit world have given me a rich
pool to draw from. And sothere are times when I'm working with a
(31:23):
client and you know, coaching isall about asking them the questions and helping
draw out their own view about this, but sometimes you know, you just
have the answer and what they need, and so I might pause and say
do you would you like some adviceon this, you know, And if
they say yes, please, thenI'm like, okay, let me let
me share with you how I hada similar situation solved. And so that's
(31:45):
not really coaching, but that's morementoring, and I'm a big, big
believer in having good mentors. Greatour guest has been CEO and President Rona
Rene Jackson of the launch Point LeadershipGroup. Ronna, give me your phone
email whatever it is you gave himthe first time, tell them again one
more time how they can get ahold of you. Okay, that would
be great. At my phone isaera code four two three nine nine four
(32:08):
zero zero zero seven double O sevenwasn't good enough, I've got trip loo
and my email is are r Jacksonat launch Point Leadership dot com. So
a closing bit of advice, maybeI'd like to ask this one too for
an aspiring CEO, maybe an entrepreneurthis day and age, and they've heard
(32:30):
a lot of great things from me. There's anything else you would say?
And don't forget this. I wouldjust say, don't be afraid. I
mean, life's scary, you know, but take a chance. The worst
thing that happens is no. Butif you don't ask, the answer is
no already. So try and trysomething new and take a chance. And
if you have the mentality that youdon't really fail, you just learn exactly.
(32:52):
Then I think that's great advice.Yeah, thank you so much for
being our guest. Thank you,Thanks Mike so much for having me.
You've been listening to CEO as youshould know. I'm your host, Mike
Howard from the Wheeling Area Chamber ofCommerce. We present this program in conjunction
with our partners at iHeartRadio Wheeling,and we are sponsored by our good friends
at West Banco. We'll see younext time on CEOs. You should know
Well, welcome back to CEOs youShould Know. I'm your host, Mike
Howard, Chief Operating Officer of theWheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. We are
pleased to present CEOs you Should Knowto the Ohio Valley Market for our good
friends at iHeartRadio, brought to youby our other good friends at the Banks
of West Banco. They've been agood sponsor with us for many things,
(00:38):
and throughout this whole year we'll sponsorour CEOs you Should Know podcast along with
us. So we are excited tobe in studio once again today with CEO
and President Rona and a jaction oflaunch Point Leadership Runner and a welcome thanks
Mike, happy to be here.Yeah, I think I almost messed up
(00:59):
launch Point Leadership too many l's therefor me after it is at well is
a bit of alliteration, and Iadd group to the end of it because
I do partner with people all aroundthe East Coast launch Point Leadership Group.
Well that's good. Yeah, becausethis isn't just a Wheeling business. It
didn't start in Wheeling, did it, It did not it? Yeah,
give us the origination. It wasborn in Chattanooga, Tennessee. We did
(01:22):
visit there our founder emeritus, MargeFleming, and I purchased the business from
her several years ago when I wasmoving so much. You know, I
have moved quite a bit, youhave, growing up and with my husband's
career, and so I purchased thebusiness so it could always go with me,
and I was able to work inlots of different markets and different size
(01:46):
cities. And I'm really happy tobe here and Wheeling. I think this
is a sweet spot. I'm reallyenjoying it. And we were pleased for
our leadership Wheeling twenty twenty four topartner with you as our I guess content
coordinator facilitator. There was a lotof time idols and hats you were wearing.
There were a lot of hats.But it was really fun and I
think we gave new birth to aprogram that had been existing for a long
(02:07):
time, and it was really greatto see the energy around it. And
even here as I'm in the communitynow, hear people talking about the excitement
for next year's cohort. So Ithink we're onto something good here. I
think we are. It's a greatpartnership. So before we dive further into
launch Point Leadership Group, let's talkabout where you're from, born, grew
(02:28):
up, all that good stuff,because again, not in Wheeling, right,
not in Wheeling. I don't knowif you can detect an accent.
Some people say I have a Southernaccent. Some people say I don't.
When I was a child, Ihad a very bad Southern accent. In
fact, I would say, Mama, look at that. Jaet and I
made a jet, a two syllablewar. And that was in South Florida
(02:50):
or central Florida really, because mydad was with NASA and I was born
at the Cape and I started movingas a child, So I've moved a
lot of times. My dad waswith IBM. When we jokingly said it
stood for I've been moved. Andthen I had my own IBM career for
about fifteen years and moved quite abit all through that, and then throughout
(03:12):
my twenty five plus year marriage toJeff, we've moved a lot. We
were adding up the other night thenumber of houses we've lived in, and
I think we lost count at likethirteen. Oh my gosh, that's just
crazy. So where were you whenyou and Jeff met in Atlanta? In
Atlanta? Okay, did you getmarried there? No? We did not.
We had moved to Connecticut, ok. And we ended up we were
(03:35):
kind of like kids without a home. So we got married in Charlotte,
North Carolina, where my dad wasliving at the time, and I thought,
he's paying for it, we'll getmarried there, and so that was
great. But we met in Atlantaand we both worked for IBM Global Finance.
Okay, excellent worked the same place. So wow, that's pretty cool.
All right, married and Charlotte movedto Connecticut. What happened after Connecticut?
(03:55):
After Connecticut we moved just in yourmemory, I had to think about
it. We lived in New Yorkat in Connecticut, worked at IBM corporate
headquarters at nine to eleven, andthat event precipitated a conversation that we had
to make a lifestyle change. Iwas coming back off matney leave. Our
son was only a few months old. He was born in April of September
(04:18):
that same year, and so myjob at the time was one hundred percent
international travel, and I just didn'twant to do it anymore. I had
a baby, and I'm like,you know, my whole view on work
was changing, and so I resignedfrom that position and we moved to Jeff's
hometown of Chattanooga, Tennessee, andwe picked that place because I did want
(04:41):
to continue working and have a career, but I needed help. And so
his family was there and they werewilling to help us, and that was
great. So we moved to Chattanoogaand lived there the longest I've ever lived
anywhere in my life. We livedthere for about sixteen years, and that
was really really terrific. That isa long time time with all those moves
you had. Yeah, So it'sfunny, right because that was a long
(05:03):
tenure. And so that tells youhow many times we've moved quickly in between,
you know, I mean my housein Memphis and then my house in
Naples, Florida. The furniture wasmoved on the same day to the day,
September twenty seventh, in twenty nineteen. September twenty seventh and twenty twenty.
(05:23):
Wow, So Chattanooga to Naples,Florida. Okay, so a little
more south again, right back toFlorida. I think that was the third
time I had moved in and outof the state of Florida as a native
Florida and I love Florida, andI thought we'd be there for a while.
You know. Jeff was the regionalpresident for a First Horizon Bank at
the time, you know, workingall across the state of Florida. And
(05:46):
my parents were my dad and hiswife. My mom died when I was
twenty three, so my dad andhis wife, but I say my parents.
They were living in clear Water,so I was very excited that I
was close to them again. Iwas reconnecting with college friends. I went
to University of Florida, so Iwas happy to see a lot of my
sorority sisters. And we were onlythere for a year, and then we
went to Memphis, then to Memphis. Okay, so one end of Tennessee
(06:09):
to the other via Naples, that'sright. And we were in Memphis for
about two years, and then Jeffleft for Sarrizon and took the West Banco
role. So we moved to Wheeling. And that's where you got to Wheeling
finally after all those years, afterall that, we have two children,
correct, I do, yeah,son and a daughter. Yes, our
son is out of college and helives in Chattanooga and works for bank.
(06:30):
And our daughter just graduated high school. Very good, all right, So
I think we got the moves andthe family and all that caught up.
How did the whole launch Point Leadershipgroup you mentioned another person founding you took
over. How what was the timelineon that. Well, I think March
had the company for probably twenty hplus years. I mean, it was
(06:50):
quite quite successful in Chattanooga, andshe and I met, you know,
I don't really know how we met. We both were talking about this day.
You know how you just are drawnto people, and that's what happened.
We met. It was an instantconnection, and she kind of brought
me in under her wing. AndI'd had an executive coach when I was
(07:13):
at UNIM who told me that Iwas a natural coach and if ever I
thought about doing that, you know, she would help me. And Marge
was saying the same thing to meand saying, this is really an opportunity,
and she wanted to extend her businessa little bit. And then I
stepped in and I would say Iwanted to make it a little more contemporary
in terms of how we went tomarket, tools, techniques and all of
(07:35):
that, and so it was.It's been around for a while. Okay,
so it sounds like a couple thingsmay have shaped you early on in
your career. If someone telling youthat they think you're kind of a natural
at the coaching thing, was thereanything else, any other position or somewhat
that kind of held you had youthinking that, oh, yeah, I
can really help people in leadership trainingor coaching. I think that there was
(07:58):
always you know they say sometimes yourcareer it's either a calling or it's a
job, but you know, tryingto figure out what is that yearning that's
inside of you that needs to getout. And I always have been drawn
to helping other people identify their needsand help them realize their own life.
And I applied that to myself.You know, when I left the corporate
(08:20):
world, I thought, what isthe life I want to create or the
life I want to live? Andhow do I go create that? And
I was very intentional about it.I took some time as a nonprofit CEO,
I began cultivating some clients in thecorporate world, and I went and
got a lot of training on coachingand different modalities, and so, you
(08:41):
know, I was very intentional aboutdoing that. So I wouldn't say that
there was just one incident. Therewas just a natural way that I like
to see people. I'm a happyperson. I want other people to be
happy, and so if I seeyou not being happy, I'm like,
oh, I wonder how I canhelp shape and God and do that.
So it's sort of where I landed. Well before we started the program,
(09:03):
we were talking about title Enroll CEOpresident and chief coc and bottle washer.
I think, so what we said, do you have any other employees or
is it just you right now?I'm the only employee. I have several
other contractors. I have coaches andfacilitators that really in all the markets I've
lived in that I kind of stayconnected with, and so we are able
to serve clients across the Eastern Seaboard. And yeah, it's a nice network
(09:26):
of people that I have worked withand for and I really am happy to
have that. So it was awhile back. I can't remember exactly when
I have to look on the websiteand check the date. When we did
interview Jeff for CEOs you should know. And it was interesting when I asked
him about leadership influences in his life. I believe he said you were number
one. Oh, good, gladto hear that. You know, It's
(09:48):
funny we joke. Jeff is aI'm a good bit older than Jeff,
and a lot of people don't realizethat, and they don't realize that when
we met, I was his boss, and so he was a temporary employee.
I hired him full time, andthen I promoted him to another department.
And then a few years after that, even is when we started dating.
So I had known him. It'sa great story, or probably four
(10:09):
or five years before we started dating. And yeah, so a lot of
people say, well, you're stillhis boss, just in a different way.
Well, and so then that alwaysleads us to the question of leadership
style. How would you describe Becauseit's interesting your professionist leadership training for leadership,
so you need to I guess peopleneed to think through not only their
(10:30):
leadership style, but how can theycoach that or teach that, especially if
that other person or that client you'reworking with doesn't have that exact same bent.
Talk to us a little bit aboutthat your style and how you figure
that out with your clients. Well, I did a lot of assessments.
I've done I've been assessed up oneside and down the other as a part
of a lot of professional development inCorporate America. So I've had Myers Briggs,
(10:56):
I've had the Herman Brain Dominance Indicator. I was sent to an organizational
design company or organizational psychologist company,I guess for about three days of immersive
assessment where I had a preloaded inboxand they tested how quickly did I respond
(11:16):
to the issues and if a newissue came in, how did I answer
it? And I had to coachan employee on a video call, but
of course the employee was an organizationalpsychologist, and then I had to take
a whole battery of you know,cognitive exam So this was over the course
of a few days. Yeah,no pressure. Yeah, that was really
an intense one. But I've hada lot of different assessments and each one
(11:39):
of them have sort of come backwith a little bit of the same language,
but they might have said it differently. They have said things like,
you're kind of unique to the profile, and I was always like, unique
to your database or unique to mycompany, because that could be trouble,
you know, if you're too uniqueto And they answer was I was kind
(12:00):
of both, you know. Andso through this series of assessments, I
began to really learn my style andhonestly, in today's world, I would
probably be diagnosed as add my brain. I say all the time, I
have popcorn brain like fires off allthe time. I have all these ideas.
I would qualify for that one atleast from the idea of perspective.
(12:22):
Yeah, a lot of ideas,but it's hard for me to sit and
shape and implement them. I loveto create things and then work with somebody
else to implement them, and that'sbeen a learning process for me. You
know, there was a time earlierin my career when I thought I could
do it all and I probably fellshort a few times. And I think,
you know, learning that learning whatyou're good at, and more importantly,
(12:46):
learning what you're not good at oryou need some support, helped influence
my leadership style. So my leadershipstyle is one of curiosity about myself and
my employees. I love a strengthbased approach because I really like to see
what people are naturally good at andhow can we align the work to give
them more of that and move awaythe things that they're not good at.
(13:09):
Because the thing that I'm not goodat, somebody else may really excel in.
And I learned that through my strengthbased certification with that work, and
I really like that. I likethat approach. How have you seen these
assessments change over the decades that you'vebeen working in the work environment or in
doing this leadership thing. I mean, I think back to some of the
things they had us do in Hyatthotels in the eighties and nineties and other
(13:31):
assessments and things, and where hasit gone today? I think a lot
of them are still around, justin a digital format, right. You
know, Myers Briggs is tried andtrue, disc tried and true. You
know, the enneagram is newer that'scome out in the last you know,
five ten years, or at leastit's become more popular in the last five
or ten years. But there area lot of assessments. I think they're
(13:52):
still around. I think different practitionersfind the one that they like that resonates
most with them. But I think, you know, in a coaching world,
you have to be familiar with lotsof different ones because it has to
be based on what your client needsare. You know, when I was
managing an IT organization, there wasone that was we were considering for our
(14:13):
IT organization, but it was muchmore I'm going to say touchy feely,
Well, that's not going to workso well with an IT organization, so
they want fact data logics. Sowe ended up going with the Herman Brain
Dominance Indicator and that was a reallygood So you have to know a lot
about different assessments in order to recommendthe right one for the client profile,
as I say in my sales train, so you can diagnose the problem and
(14:35):
give them the right solution exactly exactly. So the launch Point Leadership group,
how could someone get in touch withyou? The easiest way is to call
me or text if you don't liketo be on the phone, which you
know is a new thing and thisgeneration. Right, Yeah, So my
number is area code four two threenine nine four zero zero zero seven,
(14:56):
or you can email at R Jacksonat Launchpoint Leadership dot com. There you
go, all right, So let'spretend someone here's this podcast, they're like
I need to talk to her,and they call you up or send you
an email. What typically is thefirst step? How can I help you?
I like to focus on what theyneed, right, and of course
(15:18):
I tell them a little bit aboutwhat I do in different ways that I
can help them solve whatever the gapis they're reaching out because they have some
sort of a need, and sometimesit's not even articulated. I think a
lot of people, or a lotof teams, managers and teams, I
say this frequently. They don't knowthat they had an expectation until it wasn't
met, and then they realize,oh, I did have an expectation,
(15:41):
but maybe I haven't articulated it,so it's you know, usually the first
step we might do a little workshopor a discovery session. I might need
to interview a couple people that arealso principles or partners in the team,
because maybe one person's perception of whatthe gap is is different than somebody else's,
so I like to get a robustview, and then I make a
(16:03):
recommendation, whether that is coaching forsome or all of the team, or
whether it's a workshop, or whetherit is facilitation of a group dynamic,
you know, and some exercises thatcould be done. There lots of different
things. It really just depends onwhat the client needs. Do you have
some favorite I guess the new wordis vertical. I always called them industries
or categories of businesses that you reallylove to get in deep with and help
(16:29):
I don't have a favorite. ActuallyI don't. I've done a lot of
work in nonprofits, but I've donea lot in corporates too, and I
think nonprofits it tends to be thechallenge is between the executive director or CEO,
whatever the title is, and theboard. That seems to be the
issue. Right, So it's alot of facilitation, board dynamics, interviews,
that kind of thing. In thefor profit corporate world, it's team
(16:52):
communications, it's managing expectations, it'sHoward the manager coaching and developing their teams,
you know. So I can workwith people to help that, because
not all managers are great leaders,and not all leaders are managers. Leadership
is at all levels, and Ilove to bring out, depending on who
(17:15):
I'm talking with, I always throwthe term out of micromanaging, because I
am a self professed hater of micromanagers. How does that come into maybe how
your training works. If you getinto a company and you're kind of like,
you see, oh, yeah,we've got a micro manager there.
We've got to try to help.Do you run into that a lot?
How do you deal with that?I do run into it, and I
really try and coach managers to managethe outcome and manage the work, not
(17:37):
manage the time, especially in today'sworld where you know, the younger generations
they kind of want to work fromanywhere whenever it suits them, and you
know, the brick and mortar likecoming to work at nine to five.
I was even interviewing somebody right outof college one time for a job at
a very stayed company and she said, well, what time you have to
(18:00):
be here? And I said,well, you know, we have flex
hours in the morning and in theafternoon, but in general, to support
our customers, we expect people tobe here from nine to three. Those
are our core hours. But youcan come in earlier, leave early if
you need to. And she said, that's like being in jail. And
I thought, well, maybe brickand mortar work isn't for you. But
you know what, I have realizedthis newer, younger generation, they are
(18:22):
looking for that work life integration ina way that baby boomers didn't. Baby
Boomers were willing to sacrifice their personallife for their career, and to their
credit, the younger generation aren't.And I think that's wonderful, but it
does change how managers have to workbecause managers need to be focused on the
outcome and the work, not didsomebody clock in or did somebody are they
(18:48):
on vacation? Because we all havethese devices in our pockets and we're all
connected all the time. And soreally, if you can help managers elevate
their presence and learn how to managein a digital environment and look at outcomes,
I think everybody wins that way.Yeah, the outcome is the thing,
the achievement. But how you getthere can be either unfortunately still a
(19:10):
lot of micro managers out there,or the coach leader that helps do whatever
you can to make the job easierfor whether it's sales or other managers or
whatnot, to get to that desiredoutcome. No matter the time, the
commitment or whatnot. It is theoutcome, right, it's the outcome.
It's always about the outcome. Micromanagingis really a fear based approach, and
so you have to get to thebottom of that. What are they afraid
of? What do they have sucha need to control for? You know,
(19:34):
because that's a control mechanism. Sowhy is that? And so when
you can get to the root ofthe why, then you can help unlock
the manager or leader's potential and yourteam will be much more responsive because you've
you've unlocked the why. Yeah.One of my favorite leadership coaches trainers is
Mark Miller, and he's always talkingabout two things you've got to be on
(19:56):
top of is results and relationships.And typically most people gravitate to one or
the other, and they've got towork on that balance of both and how
do you get them both to worktogether? Results and relationships? Yeah,
I totally agree. I think everyindustry you asked if I had a favorite,
no, because every industry is arelationship business. Yeah, truly is.
(20:18):
It's interesting how though the whole digitalworld and Zoom and other things have
changed how we do relationships. Youknow, salespeople are like, why go
driving the car all day? Ican now do five meetings in a row
at Zoom. Well, some ofthose are good, but sometimes you still
want to be in the environment ofyour potential client, seeing them face to
face, getting a better handle onnonverbal communication, but also then seeing their
(20:40):
facilities and meeting a lot of peopleat one time. I think it's a
balancing act to try to figure outwhat's best and for which client. The
key to life balance balance absolutely allright, So one of my favorite questions
to ask on the CEOs you shouldknow program is influences in your life,
Mentors, professors, family members.Well, who was that for Ronna Renee?
(21:03):
Without a doubt, one hundred percentmy dad? Okay, I mean
I am a daddy's girl, buthe was an executive at IBM and shaped
me as an adult as a leader. You know, I mentioned my mom
died when I was twenty three.My dad and I are super close.
He's still living, God love him. He'll be ninety in November. Oh
my gosh. And he is he'sjust always been an encourager, you know,
(21:27):
he's he I say, yeah,I say, he loved me enough
to let me fail. He didn'tcome in and swoop in and save me.
He's let me have to, youknow, deal with some outcomes.
And he's been great. And youknow, all through my whole life,
a really just solid encourager and supporterand believer. And he believed in me
(21:51):
enough until I believed it myself.And I just love that and it has
definitely influenced how I work, notonly how I parent, but how I
work with other people. As Isay, have you ever caught yourself sitting
in a counseling or coaching situation andkind of stay in the back of your
mind. Boy, that's exactly whatmy dad would have said. Yeah,
you know, I haven't thought ofit like that, but I do.
(22:11):
I do. Hear echoes of himin my brain quite a bit. Well
that's great. And then from aschooling perspective, were there any professors,
any teachers, any folks even clubs, organizations, or fellow students that might
have you might look back and go, you know, I'm glad I had
that person or met that person.Well, you know, I'm really lucky.
I have a group of sorority sisters. I was Alpha Amicron Pie University
(22:34):
of Florida and we're still friends todayand we still get together once a year.
There's you know, fourteen of us, give or take at any time,
and we comment quite a bit onhow we're kind of a group of
really strong women. You know.One of them was panelanic president. We
(22:55):
hosted the SEPC conference at Florida.I was art director. We all did,
and it's an amazing career. Oneis a judge, one as a
Republican strategist. You know, there'slawyers. It's just amazing to me that
these women that we met when wewere eighteen nineteen years old, but now
(23:15):
here we are sixty and we're stillfriends and we still get together and we
I would say that group has influencedme a lot, because when I come
away from those weekends and we're together, it's always very restorative. I mean,
people who've known you through all yourlife and then and they've seen the
(23:37):
good, the bad, and theugly. And we do say all the
time, thank God that there werenot cell phones and recordings the way that
there are nowadays. Right, Butthat group has sustained me quite a bit,
and we still work together. Thereare several of them that are kind
of in my network. You know. If I need a strength based coach,
I'm going to call on Juniper Coachingout of Baltimore. If I need
to facilitate something, I'm gonna callRenee dabs Well down in Florida. So
(24:00):
it's really great that we have abig network. Or if you need sales
training, I'm going to call Gretchenfrom Braveheart Sales in Columbus, Ohio.
And we're all over the place,and I just love that that we are
a network of women supporting women.That's awesome, very good. Well,
and you mentioned something I'm not sureI've brought this up with many of my
interviewees on CEOs you should know,but you mentioned art director. And I've
(24:22):
seen with when we were working withyou for Leadership Wheeling, you were doing
some of the design stuff. AndI'm sitting there thinking she even does that
too. But one of the thingsI know you and I are both big
cheerleaders about is the Wheeling Symphony.Talk to us a little bit about your
involvement there, but also just yourlove for arts, music, that type
of thing. My grandmother was amusic educator, so I do love music.
(24:45):
I love to have it around,all different types. And so my
involvement with this symphony when I movedhere to Wheeling was really is a way
of connecting and meeting people, becauseyou know, everybody said, oh,
join the auxiliary, you'll meet lotsof people. So I did, and
I have. I've met, I'vemade a lot of friends and it's been
lovely. And you know, throughWest Banco's sponsorship and my husband and I
(25:07):
both have committed to the symphony andwe're so fortunate that we have a symphony
of this caliber and a town thesize of Wheeling, and we need to
do everything we can to support itfinancially and attending the concerts because it is
just a gem. And people thinksymphony is like kind of boring, and
I would say, gosh, it'sanything, but these concerts are phenomenal.
(25:30):
And the music director, John Devlinis a genuine genius. I mean,
he is brilliant at bringing contemporary Americancomposers to life. And so you're learning
about music and you're enjoying it.And so I have really enjoyed the symphony.
But I love art. I meanI paint and I draw and as
(25:52):
a hobby, not you know,for anything else, but I like it.
It's very soothing to me to bein an arts world. Whenever i'm
I'm kind of stressed out, I'mlike, okay, I need to go
into the arts cime the exactly sideway as you mentioned about John. I
mean, I can just go thereand just watch him for the evening and
just enjoy the show that he individuallyputs on. Oh it's phenomenal, isn't
(26:15):
it. And the reason I loveI've always loved Symphony on Ice, but
now to have him there, it'sprobably the one concert where he speaks the
most, narrating through the songs andthe performers and the conductors and everything,
and I just love to hear himtalk. So I'm glad you got involved
in that. I keep telling allthe people here, if we're bringing people
into town, developers, whatever itis, to build everything around a symphony
(26:36):
weekend, because if people come hereand see that, then maybe hit ogleby
Wheeling parks, see the quality oflife and the parks and rex that we
have in the education system, wegot a good chance of hooking them in.
I could not agree more. Ithink that there are a lot of
little hidden gems in this area,and certainly our symphony and our park system
are two of them. Well,back to experiences real quick, and then
(26:59):
I'll have one more question for you, But is there a I always call
it the toughest lesson learned that shapedyou. Was there something and some people
have said, boy, I couldgo through a whole list of them,
but something that you're like, obviouslyat that time may not have been fun,
but it was certainly a learning lesson. And you're glad you went.
You can look back and go I'mglad I went through it. I hope
I never have to again. Ido have some I'll tell a story as
(27:21):
a way of setting this all up. Love stories. When I was pregnant
with our son working in New Yorkat IBM corporate headquarters, I have left
to go to a doctor's appointment andmy boss called me and he said,
hey, don't come back to theoffice after your appointment today. And I
thought, oh, that's so nice, thank you, okay, and he
said, oh, no, I'mnot calling to tell you. I'm not
(27:42):
doing that out of niceness. I'mdoing it because one of your employees came
into my office and said, Iunderstand why people bring guns to work and
shoot people. And I was likewhat, And so he went on to
tell me exactly this whole story abouthow this woman that I had hired came
(28:02):
in and was telling him all ofthis stuff that she perceived I had done.
She thought I had hired her forone job when I had promised her
another one, and she was goingon and on. So, of course,
you know, there was a lotof things that were involved IBM security,
and she'd have a psych evaluation.All the stuff happened. But the
lesson that I learned through It allwas on how good my documentation is,
(28:26):
because I had, in fact anote that I had sent to her throughout
the interview process, and I said, to be fair, I need to
let you know I have hired aperson for the position that we initially discussed,
and I had this other position andhere's what it is, and you
know, if you would like todiscuss that position, I am open.
(28:48):
And so then I that was theopening line. So my boss at the
time called it the smoking gun,and he was like, oh, thank
god, you kept good documentation.And so that was pretty early in my
career and throughout that you know,that lesson of keep good documentation has worked
very very well for me, evenwhen I was a nonprofit executive and I
(29:12):
had to separate one of our employeesand she went to took us to court,
took the organization court trying to getunemployment, and so we had to
go to mediation, and I hadall of my documentation where I had her
on a performance improvement plan. Iteven had a statement down at the bottom
(29:32):
that said, if you fail toadhere to these standards over the next ninety
days, you will be terminated.And I had her sign it. So
I was able to show, youknow, the mediator all of this.
I had all of the documentation,and so of course we won, and
they said, you're probably the onlyperson in the history of the state of
Tennessee that has won an unemployment claim. But I am a I'm kind of
(29:53):
scattered and messy about a lot ofstuff, but I am really careful about
documentation, and so I had tolearn that early. It was not an
easy lesson, but I'm really gladthat I have have always had good documentary.
I've been through one of those aswell, where the one of the
companies I was with for many yearsreally stressed that and I think we had
a situation where it wasn't so greatand we learned from it, and then
(30:15):
we started on and another situation popsup, and the people will higher up
in the HR or whatever said,you did wonderful documentation on this, that's
why this is not going to bean issue. And I was like,
Okay, so I think I feelwhere you are on that how important that
is. It's not something you wantto do or that you have to rely
on. But I'm glad I learnedhow, and I have a kind of
a I just have a good littleroutine. And so even things like that
(30:37):
are sometimes things that clients need helpwith, right, Like how do you
manage, you know, to setthose files up, how did you track
and manage employee one on ones?How do you have an effective one on
one who owns that relationship? Thosetypes of things are all things that I
find sometimes leaders need some support well, and you can help with that,
and I can help with that's Imean, that's great to know. I
don't think a lot of people thinkof coaches and leadership groups people doing those
(31:02):
type of things for them, butI think there's a lot of need for
that. I think there's a lotof need too, And I think it's
sort of I would say, min, I'm not strictly a coach and I'm
not strictly a mentor. I likethat blended approach and that all of my
you know, experiences through both corporateand nonprofit world have given me a rich
pool to draw from. And sothere are times when I'm working with a
(31:23):
client and you know, coaching isall about asking them the questions and helping
draw out their own view about this, but sometimes you know, you just
have the answer and what they need, and so I might pause and say
do you would you like some adviceon this, you know, And if
they say yes, please, thenI'm like, okay, let me let
me share with you how I hada similar situation solved. And so that's
(31:45):
not really coaching, but that's morementoring, and I'm a big, big
believer in having good mentors. Greatour guest has been CEO and President Rona
Rene Jackson of the launch Point LeadershipGroup. Ronna, give me your phone
email whatever it is you gave himthe first time, tell them again one
more time how they can get ahold of you. Okay, that would
be great. At my phone isaera code four two three nine nine four
(32:08):
zero zero zero seven double O sevenwasn't good enough, I've got trip loo
and my email is are r Jacksonat launch Point Leadership dot com. So
a closing bit of advice, maybeI'd like to ask this one too for
an aspiring CEO, maybe an entrepreneurthis day and age, and they've heard
(32:30):
a lot of great things from me. There's anything else you would say?
And don't forget this. I wouldjust say, don't be afraid. I
mean, life's scary, you know, but take a chance. The worst
thing that happens is no. Butif you don't ask, the answer is
no already. So try and trysomething new and take a chance. And
if you have the mentality that youdon't really fail, you just learn exactly.
(32:52):
Then I think that's great advice.Yeah, thank you so much for
being our guest. Thank you,Thanks Mike so much for having me.
You've been listening to CEO as youshould know. I'm your host, Mike
Howard from the Wheeling Area Chamber ofCommerce. We present this program in conjunction
with our partners at iHeartRadio Wheeling,and we are sponsored by our good friends
at West Banco. We'll see younext time on CEOs. You should know
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